GM Calls a Timeout on Super Bowl Ads

Three days after announcing[1] it will cut Facebook (NASDAQ:FB[2]) ads from its marketing budget, General Motors (NYSE:GM[3]) on Friday said it will not run commercials during the 2013 Super Bowl.

It’s not the first year GM has shied away from advertising during the NFL’s biggest night. In 2009, shortly before the company filed for bankruptcy, GM did not advertise during the Super Bowl.

“We understand the reach the Super Bowl provides, but with the significant increase in price, we simply can’t justify the expense,” GM Global Marketing Chief Joel Ewanick told Reuters[4] in a statement.

CBS (NYSE:CBS[5]), the network that will broadcast the 2013 Super Bowl, reportedly is selling 30-second TV spots for about $4 million a pop. Last year, NBC, which is owned by Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA[6]), charged about $3.5 million per ad.

If GM were going to run commercials during next year’s Super Bowl, the Detroit-based company probably would have a lot to talk about. By the end of 2012, GM expects to have all-new or freshened cars and crossovers in 60% of the U.S. light-vehicle market.

“GM is playing offense with an aggressive rollout of new cars, trucks and crossovers,” General Motors North America President Mark Reuss said in a press release last week regarding the repositioning of the company’s sales team.